The House of David has always been mysterious. From the stories of its leader and his high-profile trial, to the organizations’ immense wealth, countless enterprises and inventions, to their world famous baseball team, there is lot of information on the organization, but not many answers. That is why Chris Siriano, the Founder and Director of the House of David Museum, has executive produced a new documentary shedding light on its origins and history titled, ‘House of David, Life Everlasting.’
“I was a history major at Western and after returning home after eight years of school, I decided to learn about our local history, but couldn’t find much,” Siriano explains. “I went to the libraries and everywhere, the more I read the more I kept finding out about the House of David. I started to learn that it was more than just an amusement park and I really started diving in deep. The more I learned, the more I realized that someone had to preserve their story.”
The House of David Amusement Park in Benton Harbor drew approximately 75 million visitors to the area between 1908 to 1973. They had hotels on Main Street in Benton Harbor, some in the amusement park and kept hotels like The Vincent and The Whitcomb booked. At one point in time there would be up to five cruise ships docked in St. Joe, with visitors disembarking to make a stop at the famous amusement park, which was the past equivalent to Disneyland with its rides, a zoo, orchestras and band performances, vaudeville shows and miniature raceway featuring gas powered cars, which were a novelty at the time.
“As I studied them I found that they had multiple enterprises at the time such as Charley Cars bus lines, 100 acres farmland, numerous hotels, a diamond mine in Australia, a gold mine west Oklahoma, a coal mine in Kentucky, furniture building companies, and resorts and factories around the world,” Siriano explains. “In fact, during World War I, when Woodrow Wilson tried to ration use of coal, that was when they bought the coal mine and trucks would come back and forth from Kentucky delivering coal. The City of Benton Harbor ended up buying their power from them for a time.”
House of David is credited with inventing the pin setting machine for bowling ally’s, cross propellers for cruise ships to keep them from tipping over in wavy conditions, the self-flushing toilet, the process for putting grape juice into a can and the forklift. They were also hired by NASA in the 60’s to figure out how to take food into space inventing the process for space food used today and built one of the first automobiles, which currently sits in the American Auto Museum.
“When I started studying them there were six or seven members that still remained and I was lucky that they kept inviting me over to tell their stories,” says Chris. “I have volumes of notepads and over 10,000 photos in the House of David museum that tell the story of who they were and all that they accomplished. While they were a high-profile organization, they were very mysterious mainly because the way they lived so oddly from the norm. They grew their own food, generated their own energy, made their own clothes, and didn’t come to outside world for anything.”
One of the most notable aspects that people know about of the House of David was their baseball team.
“It was the only Caucasian team that played in the Negro Leagues. They couldn’t play in the major leagues because they did not shave or cut their hair. They played all over America from 1914 to 1954. They traveled with African American teams and were a part of breaking the color barrier in that sport before Jackie Robinson entered the major leagues,” says Siriano, “In fact, the Negro League Baseball Museum in Kansas City has a display about them that gives them a nod for helping breaking color barrier.”
Worth roughly $10 million dollars back then, the House of David leader Benjamin Purnell, was accused of sexual misconduct with some of the young, underage female members. The New York times was there to cover this nationally followed trial in which Purnell stood trial on a hospital stretcher after being diagnosed with tuberculosis shortly after the trial began. He was eventually found not guilty on the charges but was found guilty of operating a religious organization under false pretenses. Before he went to trial, he evaded capture from 1922 to 1926 by hiding in his mansion which had rooms inside rooms, hidden vaults and escape tunnels.
“I wanted to make the movie to get the story of House of David out there. There is so much unknown, and confusion about what really existed at the compound on Brittan Avenue,” explains Chris. “I was fortunate enough to have lived around the (remaining) members for 25 years. They are deceased now, but I talked to them for hours at a time and I wanted to tell the real story, and the facts and dispel the rumors.”
The documentary will delve deep into the House of David, explain the roots and beliefs of their religion and introduce some of their accomplishments and history. The first film covers the origins and some of the major players in forming the organization. In the future there will be nine more episodes following their history, inventions, and accomplishments to our society.
See film dates and times below: (Dates in Holland, Lansing, Detroit, Chicago & then across the country coming soon)
Mendel Centers Hanson Theatre on July 8th at 7pm…..$10
The Parish Event Center in July 9th at both 3:30pm & 6:30pm….$5 Limited to 150 seats
LOMA in Coloma July 11th at 1pm…$4
MICHIGAN THEATRE South Haven July 13 at 1pm….$4
WONDERLAND THEATRE in Niles July 16 at 10am….$4
Celebration Cinema Benton Harbor July 22 at 7pm…..regular ticket price
Celebration Cinema Grandville July 22 at 7pm
Celebration Cinema Benton Harbor July 23 at 4pm….regular ticket price
Celebration Cinema Grandville July 23 at 4pm
Celebration Cinema Benton Harbor July 24 at 4pm….regular ticket price
Celebration Cinema Grandville July 24 at 4pm….regular ticket price
The Palace Banquet Hall Lawrence July 27 at 1pm….$5 Limited to 120 seats
Mendel Centers Hanson Theatre July 30 at 4pm…..$10
Notre Dame Century Center August 12 at 7pm…..$10
by Julee Laurent
MOTM Contributor
